Stichting GoTogo

RSIN (ANBI): 8147.54.715
Email: info@hetkanwel.love

Mission

Initiating projects that invest in the future of the Togolese population.

General Information

In 2000, Pauline Versteegh founded Stichting GoTogo to provide 25,000 refugees and displaced persons in Togo with a new opportunity. In collaboration with the Togolese government, a hopeless situation was turned into a new chance for the local population. The new Mô province, once considered an uninhabitable area, has since developed into a model province for other regions. Since 2012, the foundation has had a local director in Togo who maintains close contact with the board in the Netherlands. Monthly updates are provided, or more frequently if necessary, on completed and planned activities. A financial report is submitted annually.

Activities

Young people in the region help annually with planting and saving trees for the ecological regeneration program Tree of Life of Stichting Het Kan Wel!. This has a dual purpose. In this way, young people earn money safely for their school tuition and materials to promote that they can continue their education without having to do dangerous or unhealthy work. Young people in the region often find themselves in life-threatening situations because they have to provide for their own livelihood or study costs. Within the Tree of Life program, they are paid better, are informed about their rights, and at the same time, they learn how we can all contribute to a future-proof world.

Beleidsplan 2022 – 2024

The program in Togo may not be growing anymore, but it continues to serve its purpose. It has now been decided that in 2025, together with the management and the people of the Mô Plain, we will review how we will proceed.

Stichting Het Kan Wel! now covers most of the costs for the growth and protection of the forest in Saïboudé, and the first students who attended kindergarten through GoTogo around 20 years ago are already at university. Others have found jobs and, despite their difficult start as refugees, can support themselves as citizens of Togo. We hope that together with the population, we can start a local organic nursery. This depends on developments in 2024 within Stichting Het Kan Wel!. We may also be able to offer the wild native trees the space and protection needed for proper regeneration of the ecosystem in the region. It would be beneficial if, with the expansion of this program, young people also have more opportunities to do healthy and good work, which will provide them with better future prospects.

This program further contributes to local awareness that the Earth is a source of life, not a resource (Chief Arvol Looking Horse in The Story of God). In this way, we hope to prevent further depletion of this African country and inspire a new generation to build a sustainable economy by respecting the natural ecosystem.

Of course, the implementation of this program will take longer than three years. We hope to start preparations in Togo in 2025.

Financieel

No new income is being raised through this foundation, but there are still loyal supporters who donate about €750 annually in total. Other expenses are covered by the crowdfunding program Tree of Life and other income from Stichting Het Kan Wel!.

The expenses mainly consist of costs for the execution of the Tree of Life program, the education program, and humanitarian support. The costs for the Tree of Life Program include all expenses necessary for managing and protecting the forest to be regenerated in the Mô prefecture, including: maintenance of the base in Saïboudé, personnel costs, the costs for growing and saving trees, and managing the forest. Humanitarian support takes place when there are life-threatening situations requiring our assistance or severe poverty that particularly affects single mothers and orphans.

Multiple plots of land are now also being purchased in Togo. Currently, there are occasional attacks by terrorist groups, which also pose a threat to the staff and students supported by us. It is essential that there are bases in both the north and south of the country that can serve as safe havens. So far, the Togolese government has been reasonably effective in defending the population and combating terrorist attacks.

The foundation’s assets are managed by the board of Stichting GoTogo, which does not receive any compensation for this. The director and three other staff members in Togo receive a monthly salary.